A friend I used to work with over 10 years ago went on vacation to Vietnam, Thailand, and the Phillipines. She went by herself and stayed for about a month. She toured the various touristy places, and got to see a lot of the regular non tourist areas. She said she felt completely safe the entire time, the locals were friendly and very respectful to the stranger from a foreign land. She said she would try and go back every 5-10 years, and she has gone back. Very cool stuff.